Crackerbox Stamps - National Coffee Day!

 

Hi friends!

Do you know what's better than a cup of coffee 

first thing in the morning?

A coffee SALE!

Happy National Coffee Day!

Head on over to the Crackerbox Stamps blog 

to see the full hop with lots of coffee inspired cards!

AND .... HOW FUN IS THIS!

All the coffee, tea, cocoa stamps are on 20% off

9/29-10/2!

Here is some inspiration for you ...

my card today is coffee served with a side of sass, LOL!

I've used Lady with Coffee colored with copic markers

and paired it with I don't know without coffee ...

and I used a rainbow paper to make the image pop!

I absolutely adore stamps that are punny 

and cards that have a sense of humor :)

AND don't forget the amazing 50% SALE is still ongoing!

It's an amazing time to scoop up those stamping goodies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy shopping and CHEERS!

~Kelly

This is an affiliate post with stamps provided to me at no charge for the purpose of designing for Crackerbox Stamps.  Affiliate links are provided for you at no extra charge to you!

Stamping Sisters Camp - Day 3!

 

Hi friends! 

It's Day 3  of the Stamping Sisters winter card camp

and our camp counselor today is:  Barb!

Her challenge for us today was to create a card using the 

faux tile backsplash technique and O.M.G!

This was fun!

If you'd like to go back and see all the camp cards,

here's the line up of cards and techniques!

Monday/January 24th  ~ Jeanette @ Creativeplay 

Tuesday/January 25th ~ Kelly @ Sandcastlestamper

Wednesday/January 26th ~ Barb  @ inkingintoretirement

Thursday/January 27th ~ Darlene @ Accordingtobijou

On to my card!

Here's my card and then keep scrollin' if you'd like to see 

the how/where/when/what and why :)

For my card here, I started with red and pink cardstock

cut with my new Ellen Hudson Color Me Strips die -

which I've had and has been forever in it's package!

Thanks for the nudge to use it, Barb!

From there, I did the technique following Barb's instructions

and wove both the pink and red strips of cardstock from MFT stamps.

But even with double adhesive AND taping the back, my weave moved.

Once it was woven into place, 

 I clear embossed the front weaved panel

to give it the 'shiny' look - just like a real tile backsplash!

Brilliant!

Since my woven panel moved while my eyeballs were elsewhere,

 I thunk and thunk some more.

I said to myself ...

 "Self!  Cover it up!"

"No. one. is. gonna. know."

 :) 

 So, I popped up the panel on the front

with a heart from Hero Arts nesting hearts dies.

The stamp set I used is MFT Stamps Grande Sized Love

and I colored her with my new gifted from Santa copic markers!

 Here's a final look:

And that's it for Day 3 of camp!

I hope Barb and the other campers like my card ~

if not, I brought some  s'mores!

Surely chocolate and a campfire will make up for it ...

and I'm sure I have a few skits and jokes I can tell!

Thanks for stopping by!

Be blessed!

~Kelly

Carded, Twice ... January's card

Hi friends!

Happy Middle-of-the-week!

 Don't let my blog title fool you .... it's still really February  :)

And I also haven't been carded ...

And certainly not twice!

But, last week, taking my little granddaughter, Alice, to her gym class,

where we interactively jump and play and bounce around,

 I was called a 'Cool Grandma!"

So there's that  :)

This year, one of my main 'crafty goals' was to find ways to recycle with my cards.

Not necessarily using old cards you get in the mail and creating new cards ...

more like all the things we open and use and finish and toss.

Cardboard, boxes, ribbons, package inserts and so. much. more!

My brain works in strange, strange ways.

We were recently at a restaurant, enjoying a celebratory meal,

and everyone was laughing and smiling and it was wonderful!

But, I was also looking around the table at 'stuff' and I kept seeing cards!

"I can use this, I can use that ..."

You'll see a lot of the ideas later this year ...

... if I can remember where I put things!

Today's card is for January and the first in the series.

It was done, photographed, and then life happened so it wasn't blogged.

Until today! 

Can you spot what was recycled?

For my first card, I collect Starbucks You are Here/Been there City mugs.

They are so near and dear to my heart!

Many came from my travels or my brother/kids as they traveled,

and a few were sent by treasured friends ♥

(tip: airports are ah-may-zing places to find these!)

Sample photo!  Photo courtesy of Amazon

I cut down the box and used the front 'BEEN THERE" panel as the focal point.

Since it was jagged from the box, I ran it through my Gemini Jr with a 

stitched die from My Favorite Things and it fits nicely into the scallop frame.

The red/kraft cardstock are the card base 

and are secured under the Starbucks panel.

I used My Favorite Things ALM Miss You a Latte

for the image to match the coffee theme and used my Brother Scan N Cut.

She's colored with a combo of Copic markers and prismacolor markers.

The coffee themed sentiment is from MFT's Friends at First Sip

and I used this one (over one in the ALM set) for font size. 

I think the panel definitely gives it an interesting vibe

and at least it wasn't thrown out and makes for an interesting design.

It was Card(ed) .. Twice!

And that's it for me with card #1 in the Carded, Twice series!

I'll be back later this month with the one for February :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

The Library Card: Book 3!

Hello friends!

I hope your weekend is going well!

This is my 3rd post (but not 3rd card!) for The Library Card,

a blog series combining my love of books and Starbucks and card-making!

Oh, how I love my Unity Stamps ~

and am SO EXCITED to be a Growing in Unity girl this year!

It's a long way until November, but so worth the wait :)

For today's library read, I've decided to create a card 

on a book that was recently loaned to me.

I oogled it when it came out and hit the bookstores,

and was happy to sit and actually read it and peruse the beautiful pictures 

and note some recipes.

And Reese has a book club!
Say. No. More!

Today's library selection:

Whiskey in a Teacup

by Reese Witherspoon

Book Cover:

My card: 

I've been organizing my Unity Stamp Co collection by theme ~
and found I have a lot of coffee themed stamps!

(I have a lot of coffee themed stamps of every kind, really!)

I decided to use Kimmie Girl for this book cover ♥

For my card, I created a base using designer paper

and stamping Kimmie right onto the cardstock.

After die cutting the image and the matching sentiment,

I arranged the card to fit onto the card and added some buttons.
(And pssst!  Kimmie is on sale this week!)

 

 My favorite quote: 

 "I don't have a ton of free time, so when it comes to short cuts and good-enough-ing, I have been there and store-bought that."

 It's fun to have another book in The Library Card shelf! :)

I have a few more books checked out ~

I wonder what I'll read next?!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

3M: It's a BREW-tiful day!

Hiya friends!

Let me espresso how much I love this picture of me 

coffee lady and sentiment - a whole latte!

 

This is my card for the  ~ 3M ~

(that's Barb, Jeanette and I)

and they were a perfect blend of being on time!

My card took a little bit longer to brew :)

Jeanette was the hostess for this month and sent us 

this hilarious stamped image from Inky Antics.

 

I colored her with my prismacolor markers

and used several dies to create the card itself.

When I saw her, it looked like she was talking

  and a speech bubble came to mind :)

The rest of the card is pretty simple overall,

just die cutting, picking the card stock and adding a bright colored paper :)

You can see what Barb and Jeanette perked up using this image

and sentiment by heading to their blogs, and

we'll be back next month with another fun card from our hostess, Barb!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

 

CCEE: Thinking GREEN!

Hi friends! 

I have two posts today ~
for my Drive By Crafts Winter Wonderland card, click here!

 I'm super excited that I was able to get a little inky this afternoon 

while chatting with my daughters and planning, planning!

We have a BUSY next 2 weeks so card making is precious to me ♥

Since the CCEE Stampers challenge this week is GREEN,
I had an idea of where I wanted to go with my card :)

I fell instantly in love with the Honey Bee Stamps 
 coffee break stamp set (of course!) when I saw it ♥

This week, they have a fun challenge to show off your green inspired cards

so I had a lot of fun stamping and embossing to highlight 

both the stamps AND the green!

WHICH is my very, very, VERY favorite color :)

 Some fun facts:

* Green eyes are something special ~  2% of the world's population has green eyes, making it the rarest eye color in the world!

* "It's not easy being green!" says our favorite green Muppet, Kermit!  Did you know he wasn't initially intended to be a frog?  His species was undetermined until Johnny Carson identified him as a frog nearly 10 years after his creation!

* Green is the symbol often associated with fertilty and in the 1400's, it was the preferred choice of color for wedding dresses.   

To make this card, I started with a green cardstock base, die cut to give

it a scalloped shape.

I ran my embossing buddy across the cardstock to prep it for inking

with VersaMark, and then embossed with Recollections white embossing powder.

I stamped out the cups and donut and smaller images 

in a random pattern but kept the coffee cup on a saucer as the main image,

focal point in the center.

I didn't want it to lay flat against the card do it's propped up with 

a low layer of 3D foam.

I repeated the stamping/embossing for the sentiment 

and that cute saying is from the Blah Blah Blah set which remains 

one of my favorites!  The sentiment stamps are hilarious!

And that's my card!

I absolutely LOVE how this one turned out ♥

I'm envisioning a stack of these to give to my son's teacher

with a variety of different sayings ...

woohoo!

Extra credit for mom!

LOL!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

~Kelly 

I'll enter this to: Die Cut Divas - monochrome 
 Monochrome Magic - monochrome

Decaf is for wimps! :)

"Decaf is for wimps!"

I take mine leaded :)

And preferably wrapped in a Starbucks cup!

AND, with as much running around as I've done this week,

I'd prefer it in this size pot!

I'm happy to share that I'm going to be sharing something NEW
 on my blog - starting in April!

I have been thinking/planning it over for awhile ♥

You know what they say, there's no time like the present!

I'm really excited ~  so grab your favorite cup + stay tuned!

These Art Impressions folks have got to be some of
 the funniest stamp sets I own.

And the sentiments that AI comes up with to match ...

Seriously - I can't even - LOL!!!

Today's card is another one I made for the Spring Coffee Lover's Blog hop.

It's a fun time for big coffee fans 

... such as m'self ...

to go through the stamp stash and use all our coffee themed stamps!

I will be catching up on blog visits by/on the weekend.

I'm restructuring my blog and getting it back on track,

as some of mah friends are missing!

I edited it, and then it wouldn't let me edit back, 

but I'm sure I've figured it out ... and just in time for April!

Cheers!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

~Kelly

                    I'll enter this as my 2nd card to the 2017 Spring Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

I'm just waiting ....

.... to see if my coffee chooses to use its powers for good or evil today!

Hee hee!

I'm back with another Riley and Company card 

for the Tuesday card bonanza,

cards from Riley's Team 1 DT!

This was pretty much what I wanted to do today :)

After a bustling and wonderfully fun Christmas with

our kids, gift exchanges, our bountiful meal, the spirit of love around us!

Today,

I sat. 

Well, I did walk the dogs,

...and do the laundry, 

and the dishes,

and cooked dinner, 

and cleaned, 

AND played games with the kids!

Yep, not much sitting - LOL!

But I did get to make a few cards, too!

Santa's elves were very, VERY good to me

and I was gifted the mini MISTI and some new stamps and dies! :)

I love my little elves! ♥

 And this is the inside of the card - left blank for a message later :)

Using my UM coffee Riley

and the funnybones sentiment powers for good or evil

I created this bright and cheerful card -

added a few flowers and buttons and done!

You can find this stamp and more in the shop,

as well as the inspiration from the DT at Stamper's Ink blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

~Kelly

It's Autumn coffee time! ♥

Oh what an exciting time of year - 

coffee with friends and Autumn's beauty all around us ♥

It's also time for the 2015 Fall Coffee Hop 

and I just knew I wanted to make a card ~ cards, coffee?  So me! 

 

I've seen so many incredible coffee cards, each one so unique with 

different techniques, coffee stamps that are new to me, 

inspirational card designs and so much more! 

The hop has wonderful sponsors, talented crafters, giveaways ..

so be sure to take a peek!

 

For my card today, I've used one of my favorite stamp sets,

the Breakfast Club from The Alley Way Stamps.

I paper pieced my coffee cup and stamped the steam and sentiment

 right onto the paper and propped it up with 3d foam for dimension.

My coffee themed Fall colored paper has been in my stash

and just feels like Fall when I see it :)

 

I'd also like to enter this into Colour Me: Playful!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Brand new from Riley and Company!

 

Good Morning ~

I hope you had a blessed holiday weekend ♥

 

 

I'm super excited to finally share some news and let the cat out of the bag :)

There is wonderful news from Riley and Company stamps,

and this week we will bring you sneak peeks of the brand new

Inspirations stamp line!

 

 

This week, we will showcase 26 new Inspirations stamps

and 29 new Funny Bones, all in this release!

The Inspirations stamps are larger, bolder, and have such

profound messages, perfect for cards and scrapbooking.

 

 

 

 

First up today, I have a coffee theme card

using one of the new Funny Bones sentiments ~

and for a coffee aficionado like me, this says a lot - LOL!

I've paired it with some floral paper with a satin

ribbon and a few buttons.

 

The DT will have card samples and sneaks up all week to show you

 the new Inspirations and Funny Bones stamps so be sure to check back! 

 The new stamps will all be available in the store this Friday, April 10 - woohoo!

 

Thanks for stopping by today ~
Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly